FRANCIS JOSEPH I., Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. He was born on Aug. 18, 1830, at Laxenburg Castle, near Vienna. His father was the Archduke Francis Charles, younger son of Emperor Francis I., and his mother was the Archduchess Sofia. He was carefully educated, and in 1848 served under Radetzky in Italy. On Dec. 2, 1848, following political disturb ances which threatened the dissolution of the Empire, the Emperor Ferdinand abdicated and the brother, the Archduke Francis, abandoned his claims to the crown. Francis Joseph thereupon be came Emperor. During the first year of his reign he carried on campaigns which resulted in the defeat of the revolting Italian provinces. He was then obliged to direct his attention to Hungary, which was in revolt, under the leadership of Louis Kossuth. This revolt was put down only with Russian aid. As a pun ishment, Hungary was absorbed into the Empire and was deprived of its constitu tional liberties. In 1853 an attempt was made on the life of the Emperor by a Hungarian, but he escaped with a slight wound. Two years later he concluded a concordance with Pope Pius IX. by which there were restored to the Roman Catho lic Church many of the liberties of which it had been deprived since the time of the Emperor Joseph II. In 1859 Francis Joseph was forced into a war with France and Sardinia. This ended with the loss of Lombardy by Austria. Fol lowing this disaster, the Emperor aban doned his former conservative policy and began many necessary measures of re form. Following the disaster of the Seven Weeks' War with Prussia, the monarchy was reconstituted on a dualis tic basis in 1867. Francis Joseph always
attempted to maintain a constitutional and parliamentary regime in his domin ions, and only through the respect and affection of his subjects and by means of his own personal influence, was the Dual Empire held together during the period of his long reign. On April 24, 1854, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. This marriage ended in an estrangement which was terminated only by the assas sination of the Empress by an Italian anarchist in Geneva, on Sept. 10, 1898. The only son of Francis Joseph and Elizabeth, Rudol, h, died mysteriously in his hunting lodge at Meyerling, Austria. This left an heir apparent, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, nephew of the Em peror, whose murder on July 18, 1914, at Sarajevo, Bosnia, precipitated the World War. Throughout the long reign of Francis Joseph, public calamity and private distress were mingled, It was reported that he was forced into actual hostilities against Serbia only through the influence of his ministers and the German Emperor. The disasters suf fered by the Austrian armies greatly depressed him, although he continued to perform his duties until within a few hours of his death, which occurred on Nov. 21, 1916.
Francis Joseph's reign was the longest in modern history. It lasted 67 years and exceeded that of Queen Victoria by years. He was succeeded as Emperor by Charles Francis Joseph, nephew of Francis Ferdinand and son of Archduke Otto.